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Briggs
Briggs is the leader of the no-chip unmarked city of Refuge. She upholds an agreement with the Holder of Ring 2, Lowell, in order to maintain a life away from government intervention. This agreement with Lowell has led her to become strict and uncaring with the sole purpose of maintaining the facade of freedom. Early Life Briggs hails from the busting capital city of R2D2. She lead a luxurious life since her father was the Watcher over the district. Early in her life, she was sent to an elite government school in R2D1 that was used to educate and train the children of the Ring's watchers. There she was fed the usual government education focused on remaining loyal to the substainer. Briggs was of course completely uninterested in the subject; after all she did take after her father. Briggs father was a shady character, often trying to undermine his colleagues for better districts. He had started as the Watcher of R1D13 but by the time Briggs was conceived he had already lied, cheated, and bribed his way to R2D23 but had no intention of stopping. Briggs was born after her father had secured his position as watcher of R2D2 by framing the old watcher for letting a faction of rebels through the capital building. He had set his sights of R2D1, but never had any luck due to the current watcher being friends with the Holder of Ring 2. Despite this fact, he continued in hopes that he would eventually cause the Watcher of R2D1 to catch the attention of someone even higher up than the Holder. Sadly for Briggs father, someone's attention was caught, but it was all on him. When Briggs was twelve, she returned home on a holiday from school to spend time with her father. Just her father though as she had never been too fond of her mother. She spent the good part of a month away from school for the Ring's equivalent of summer break when one day her father received a letter. Seeing this as odd since paper communication had long been extinct, her father opened it out of curiosity. Briggs saw a bright flash when the seal was broken and watched as her father fell limp on the floor. After a brief period of time, her father regained consciousness and managed to get up on his feet again. He insisted that he was fine, but wouldn't let Briggs read the note. Briggs brushed this off as a random occurrence and continued on with her day. As the day went on, Briggs noticed her father becoming short of breath and sweating much more than he ever had. The next day, he couldn't even muster up the energy to crawl out of bed. At that time, Briggs and her mother requested the best healers in the district. Her father's secretary made a few calls and within a few hours, the four best healers in the district had been assembled, among them was Annette Ashren. They worked as hard as they could day and night trying to figure out what was wrong with the man, but none of them had ever seen such and unresponsive disease before. Briggs watched for six days as her father withered away into a frail dehydrated figure that she barely recognized. On the dawn of the seventh day, the Holder of Ring 2 arrived in R2D2 to announce a new watcher would be taking over as the other one had stepped down. He stopped by Briggs house after the ceremony was over. Briggs mom began to rapidly ask questions about her husband's condition, screaming that none of the healers could do anything. The holder approached the healers and announced that the man had come down with the Vanisher's Plague. There was nothing that any of them could do and so they were advised to go home and tell no one what they had seen or there would be consequences. Once the group had left, Briggs mom began screaming again this time asking what Vanisher's Plague was and how this had happened. With his polite facade fading, the Holder began threatening the woman. "Shut the hell up, Lady, you're giving me a headache. I just had to go through that happy go lucky ceremony; I don't want to deal with your incessant whining. Your husband was a rat, and so we dealt with him as such. Now, as wife and daughter of a rat, you have two choices: you either go join the trash heaps of Ring 1 or you die." Briggs mother was taken aback for a moment, but then began screaming again at the very agitated man. Perhaps she had chosen a bad day or more than likely this man had absolutely no concern for anyone but himself because after the holder snapped his fingers, Briggs father's most trusted guard shot her mother right between the eyes. With a calm cool voice, the man looked over at Briggs and uttered four words: "Ring One Or Die." Briggs looked at the bed where her father was only to find nothing. He was gone. She dropped to her knees in defeat. At that point guards she had once trusted were throwing her into her room to pack a single small bag. She hurriedly packed her things away knowing that whatever she took would be all that she had. Deciding on some clothes and a few crystals, she left her room for the last time, but not before grabbing the small switchblade her father had given her to take to school after a few of the boys had made a few comments to her. Escape As she boarded the train with her assigned guard, Briggs looked back on R2D2 with fire in her eyes. She didn't know how and she didn't know when, but she knew that one day she would have her revenge on the man that killed her father. She knew that she couldn't do anything in Ring 1 though. once you become a citizen there, you are almost guaranteed never to come back out. She began formulating a plan. At the train station, she had tested whether or not the guard would follow her into the bathroom, and luckily, he did not. After waiting a few hours, she asked if she could go again when they had departed from the station in R2D4. Reluctantly, the guard agreed and stood outside the room while she went. Briggs knew she only had moments to act. She glanced around and noticed a small window up towards the top of the small room. Knowing that she only had one chance, she took out her switchblade and cut the sleeve off of her shirt. She closed the switchblade and placed it flat against her knuckles then wrapped the sleeve around her fist tightly. Using her make shift brass knuckles, she punched the window. It made a loud cracking sound and suddenly the guard was beating on the door. Time was running out, after two more punches she managed to break through. She began trying to clear away the glass shards that remained, but the sound of a key entering the lock of the door but an end to that. Briggs climbed up onto the tank of the toilet and started climbing out the window. She got her first leg through then pushed away from the train as the guard burst through the door. Her landing was rough to say the least. She managed to get away with a few bumps and bruises, but also a very broken arm. Quickly she gathered her wits; she didn't have much time. She knew that the guard was probably trying to stop the train, so she had fifteen minutes at most to get as far away from where she was. She began to run towards the nearby forest while holding her broken arm when she looked down at it and remembered. Panic set in as Briggs remembered her chip was in her arm. It didn't matter where she went as long as her chip was still there. She slowly came to a stop and pulled out her blade. She wasn't taken any chances. Pain immediately pulsated through her whole body as she plunged her knife into her wrist. She began to dig around in agony as her fingers brushed against her fracture while she was searching for her chip. Soon she found it and threw it at her feet. Luckily she still had the sleeve of her shirt to wrap her arm with. As she hurriedly formed a makeshift bandage, she looked down at her chip. She hated that chip. It was the last connection she had with the government that killed her father. She picked up the chip and placed it on a large rock near her and grabbed a smaller rock. With all of the emotion that she had been holding back since the day her father died, she began bashing her chip over and over again. She stayed there beating this inanimate device into a powder for two more minutes before remembering that she was on the run. She glanced around to gauge her options. To her dismay, the trash heaps seemed to be the easiest place to get lost in. As she got up to head in that direction, she looked back at her train in the distance. She noticed it had stopped, but even if the guard had a buggy, there was no way he could take it into the mountains of garbage, so she ran until she reached the garbage piles where her sprint transformed into a leisurely pace. This was her home, at least for now. Refuge Briggs wandered the trash heaps for awhile, scavenging what little food she could find. Things looked hopeless, but she was determined not to die out here. She was going to get her revenge. After two days of wandering aimlessly, Briggs began to feel the effects of not having any water. She began to wonder how she was going to find water when she suddenly felt as though she was being watched. She looked around and spotted a figure in the distance. Fearing that it was the guard that had been searching for her, she took off in a random direction just trying to put as much distance between her and the figure as possible. After a few minutes of running, she collapsed. Her body did not have the energy nor the fluids to continue on at the pace she was trying to maintain. Within seconds she felt as she was lifted off of the ground and hoisted over the person's shoulder. She tried to fight back but one arm was broken and the other wouldn't respond to her. She watched as the ground beneath her turned from garbage into sand into grass but then strangely she started seeing plants. At first just small bushes but then the roots grew bigger and bigger into large trees. This caused her to fight even harder as she thought that her captor was simply taking her into the forest to kill and dispose of her. With the last bit of energy she had, she used her good arm to reach for her blade in her back arm. "Don't bother, I already took it," her captor said. Briggs finally resigned herself and gave in. She was going to die. A few moments later, the man carrying her began talking. Briggs almost responded when she heard other voices answer him. Fearing the worst, she assumed that she had been taken to a secret government facility where she would be experimented on, but without any energy left, she could only dangle lifelessly over this man's shoulder. The man carried her through a building and up some stairs then took her into a room where some people began to stick her with various needles. The man introduced himself as Marner. Briggs remained silent as he began to pace the room. He asked her what she was doing out in the trash heaps. Silence. He asked for her name. Silence. He asked if she had a home. Silence. Marner knew that he wasn't going to get an answer so he began talking instead. He told Briggs that she wasn't in trouble, that she was safe, and that his group wasn't affiliated with the government in any way. He told her she could stay as long as she needed to until she wanted to return home, but then he pointed at the infected gash in her arm and remarked that that probably wouldn't be anytime soon. He began walking towards the door before stopping one last time. "You and me aren't that different you know?" he said as he lifted his sleeve revealing a six inch scar on the inner side of his right arm. Briggs remained in her room for some number of weeks afterwards recovering from her injuries. Marner made sure to stop by once per day to attempt to get her to talk. After about the fourth week she began giving one word responses. Words became sentences, sentences became paragraphs, and eventually paragraphs became actual conversation. After Briggs arm had fully healed, Marner returned to her room and offered her a place to stay with his family. Briggs thanked him for the offer but reclined, requesting to live alone. Marner accepted on the condition that she join the Refuge Guard in order to pay for her living arrangement. Briggs worked her job as a guard for years, rising quickly through the ranks. By age 17 she had become second in command under a man named Harkon. Harkon was a few years older than her but extremely good at his job as the head of the Guard. His expertise was scouting as he preferred to watch from afar using nothing but a bow and arrow if things got rough. Briggs resented him. She saw the bow and arrow as a cowards choice of weapon for those that would run away at the first sign of danger. Later that year, Briggs turned 18. In Refuge, turning 18 means that you are ready to start having children, a gift that is heavily encouraged, Despite the pressure from her peers, Briggs remained uninterested in the idea of having children as they would only get in her way. Marner approached her as the leader of Refuge. He had always had a soft spot for her, but he told her that at her age she was expected to have a child. He said that he couldn't go around making exceptions for anybody and that she had a week to choose someone or he would have to choose for her. Briggs ignored his warning thinking that he was just threatening her for show, but she was sadly mistaken. After the week was up, Briggs went out on her normal scouting routine. She began her route as normal back towards the trash heaps that Marner had rescued her from. She was just about to the edge of the forest when she felt a sharp pain in her calf. She looked down and saw an arrow protruding from the back of her leg. She went to run, but as she did she lost her balance and fell over. The last thing she saw was Harkon's grin as the world faded away. Climb to Power Nine months after the arrow incident, Briggs gave birth to a baby girl named Everly. Briggs despised the child and would often leave her at the neighbors house even when she had returned from work. The child grew up as Briggs was forming her plan to take over Refuge. The first part was easy. She knew Harkon's scouting route like the back of her hand. She had been trailing him every time he went out ever since that day. On Everly's fourth birthday, Briggs enacted phase one. She left her child with the neighbor woman and followed Harkon out into the forest. He stuck to the trees just like a coward would, but Briggs had noticed that he followed the same path every time right down to the exact branch he stood on. Briggs had weakened one branch in particular and was just waiting to get him to ground level. As soon as he placed all of his weight on the branch, it snapped and Harkon came tumbling down, injuring both of his legs in the process. Briggs acted quickly, standing over him as he tried to gather himself. He looked up and saw the cold stare on her eyes and reached for his bow. Briggs responded by lowering her foot onto his windpipe. His hands began to grasp her leg in an attempt to free his airway, but every time he tried to move her leg, she applied more pressure and twisted her leg. The struggle continued for another two minutes before Harkon eventually went limp. The last thing he saw was Briggs cold stare turn into the same twisted grin he had once given her. Briggs made quick work of disposing of him. She dragged him out towards the trash piles and created an avalanche of garbage on top of his corpse. No one would find him unless they knew exactly where he was. People held out hope for Harkon to return for around two weeks until Marner finally pronounced him dead. Shortly after a ceremony was held making Briggs the new captain of the guard. Knowing that Marner suspected her for Harkon's disappearance, Briggs laid low and for once in her life started spending more time with her child which was the worst possible thing to do for her. Everly had begun to get older, but to Briggs that only meant she was becoming more annoying. Briggs would constantly yell at Everly or beat her for things she hadn't even done. Briggs wanted to punish her for existing because as far as Briggs was concerned, she shouldn't. Around age 6, Everly made a friend, Alinda. The insufferable girl would laugh and play with Everly at school which made Everly question things her mother had told her. Any time Everly asked her mother a question about civilization outside of Refuge she received a swift slap to the face, until eventually she stopped asking all together. Everly and Alinda remained friends for five more years despite multiple threats from Briggs. Finally, Everly began asking her mother about where she was born. Alinda had told Everly that she had heard Briggs wasn't from Refuge. That was the last straw. Briggs threw Everly onto the ground screaming that it was no concern of hers where she was born. Briggs had had enough of that girl filling Everly's head with thoughts of a different life, so she took matters into her own hands. The next day, Briggs announced a junior Guard position that would be under direct orders from her to train. The whole city was surprised that Alinda was chosen over Everly. For the next year, Briggs had organized Alinda's schedule to where she and Everly would never share any free time. She thought the, matter had been solved until one night she found a hidden stash of letters that Alinda had written to Everly. Clearly, more drastic measures had to be taken. It was then that Briggs began to formulated phase two of her plan. Marner had once again let his guard down around her again, so now she could swoop in and find a way to take his position. While she was planning at work one day, she heard a commotion coming from the barracks. Two of her subordinates, Sol and Astra, had brought their three year old to work to show her off. They had found out that she was what some people in the city call gifted. Briggs watched as the child sneezed and sparks came out of its nostrils. Briggs was furious that they had a child with powers while she was stuck with a useless coward. Then it hit her. She could solve all three of her problems in one fell swoop. She ran to her office and searched through harkon's old filing cabinet. She found a folder detailing a beast across the tracks that no one had ever returned from. That night, she met with Marner and convinced him that her scouts had mentioned seeing the beast edging closer and closer towards the tracks. Marner agreed that it needed to be looked at and agreed when Briggs urged him to come too seeing as how he used to be in the guard. The next day, Briggs called a meeting with Marner, Sol, and Astra detailing the mission. The day came when the task force was to depart and as they began exiting the gate, Briggs called out to Alinda to follow her. The others protested but Briggs assured them that she needed this kind of training. The trip was a fairly long one, about a total of a day. The next day, the team awoke early to hopefully catch the monster asleep. They made it to the clearing where a single large blue lizard was resting in the mouth of a cave. Marner and Sol began to write things down while Astra took pictures. Briggs knew that if they continued at this pace, they would leave before it awoke. She reached onto her back and grabbed a bow. She resented the idea of using such a cowards weapon, but she had to act fast. She waited until Astra had gotten fairly close to the beast when she quickly loosed an arrow into Sol's head. Hearing the thud of a body hit the ground, Astra looked over to see her husband dead on the ground. She lead out a bloodcurdling scream causing the monster to wake up. She made eye contact with the beast as she screamed and her body began to turn to stone. "That could be useful," Briggs thought to herself. As the woman's screams began to muffle from her vocal chords becoming rocks, the other two began to piece together what had happened. Marner turned around to tackle Briggs, but was met with the swift flick of a switchblade across his throat. He grasped his throat as he fell to the ground hearing Briggs say, "Sorry, I can't make any exceptions." Alinda had decided to run instead of confront Briggs, but she was not able to make it far. Briggs tackled her to the ground and pinned her. As she raised her knife, Alinda begged for her life asking Briggs not to kill her. Briggs assured her that she wasn't going to kill her as she grabbed Alinda's head forcing her to stare at the monster. Alinda's sobbing subsided as her tears turned to pebbles. Briggs job was done, but she knew no one would believe that she had escaped unscathed. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she ran from the beast out to an area with very few statues. After camping out for a few days she took one of the heavier statues, braced herself, and pulled it down crushing her leg. Next she took out her switchblade and dragged it down her face destroying her eye in the process. She bandaged her face as best as she could then began her crawl back to refuge where she was met with cheers of joy. She told the citizens a heroic tale of sacrifice and defeat while mentioning that she was asked to both run the town and take care of the Gifted child. The crowd bought it hook, line, and sinker. A week later she was in her new office after tossing the baby towards Everly telling her to figure it out. Gifted In order to amass more power, she wanted to be the only one with access to the gifted, but she couldn't just take the gifted that were already in town without an outcry. She made an announcement that she would be building a school far away for the Gifted where they could practice their skills safely without endangering anyone else. While people began to get excited about the news of a school, she had the scientists of the town work on a test that would let her know at birth whether or not a child was gifted. Shortly after she receiced news of the success of her request, she announced that the school had finished being built and that all gifted were required to meet at the front gate that evening. There were six total, not including Krist, in the town and all of them appeared ready to go to their new school. That was the last time any of them were ever heard from again. The final step in her plan was finally under way. Briggs announced that all babies born in the city would go through a lottery system to be assigned to a family unit. She claimed that this would help promoted a sense of unity as every child could be yours so everyone would work together for them. Really, it was just a way for Briggs to ensure that she would have control over all of the gifted. Interactions with the Party Briggs first met the group after they stumbled on two Refuge children, Karvi and Zair, playing out in the trash heaps between Districts 4 and 5 of Ring 2. The party calmed the children and asked them to lead them to their town. Reluctantly, the children agreed. Upon reaching Refuge, the party was quickly ushered to Briggs office to speak with her. Initially, Briggs claimed to have no idea where the bodies of the assailants from the Train Incident were, but upon hearing that her children, Everly and Brock, had gone to fight a BA51-L15-K, she agreed to give the party access to a prisoner they had captured in exchange for the safe return of the two, more specifically Brock, the Gifted one. The group completed their mission with ease and returned to Refuge with haste. After meeting with Briggs, Donnel learned that he is also what the people of Refuge call Gifted. Hoping to help teach his healing ways, he asked to meet with the remaining Gifted while Aleric, Astrid, 37, and Scooter interrogated the rebel prisoner. After many hours of torture, the prisoner attempted to kill himself by taking a dose of cyanide hidden in a false tooth. Aleric blamed Briggs for the incident claiming that it was either her directly or a result of her oversight. This event along with Kal, Astrid, and Donnel taking Krist out to fight a BA51-L15-K led to the group being asked to leave. While the group was preparing to leave, they offered to take Briggs oldest, Everly, with them. Briggs said nothing, but looked down at her daughter in disappointment and rage. Once fully integrated into society, Everly realized she was free from her mother and began to open up about the tyranny of Briggs. Hearing this, Donnel knew he had to go back and rescue his pupils along with their siblings. The next morning, Donnel, Kalógeros, Astrid, and Everly snuck back into Refuge and used a spell of invisibility to bypass Briggs security measures and sneak into her house. Donnel and Astrid found Krist in the library being tutored while Kalógeros and Everly found Brock, Lynn, Myro, and Rei and gathered them all in Krist's room. The group had almost made it out of the house when Briggs returned angry and slightly buzzed. In a heroic act of stupidity, Kalógeros charged past Briggs, drawing her to the other side of the house. The group ran to a tree in Briggs yard and began to teleport back to District 5. Kalógeros and Donnel were the last to leave. As they turned back, they saw Briggs standing still, simply glaring through them, plotting her next move.